Episode 63 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Forget the diet, I've got some extra tasty treats for the New Year on today's Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

There's some great Saturday Kitchen winter warmers for you this morning.

The understated Gennaro Contaldo cooks pork coated in walnuts

and breadcrumbs and serves it with herby chips.

One of Ireland's finest chefs, Kevin Dundon, treats us

to a loin of venison.

He serves it with potato rosti, roast veg

and a delicious port and kumquat reduction.

The loudest chef in all of Bulgaria, Silvena Rowe sears monkfish for us.

She works her magic by serving it with hazelnut dukkah

and sumac onions. Believe me, it was truly stunning.

Well, the food was.

And pub landlord Al Murray faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would he get Food Heaven -

golden syrup in the form of a delicious treacle tart?

Or Hell - rice

and a warming baked rice pudding with raspberry sauce?

You'll find out at the end of the show.

But first, we have Mr Paul Rankin, a genius at the hobs.

And here he is with an ingenious New Year's treat

for a Sunday lunch table.

-Hey, pleasure to be back on.

-What are you cooking?

-Happy New Year and all that.

-Happy New Year and all that.

What are you cooking?

Spiced chicken livers with Chinese noodles, soy, black pepper

and cream. It's a kind of funky fusion dish anyway.

We are going to start off with these egg noodles.

These are the dried Chinese egg noodles.

Fresh ones work very well, but these work good too.

We are going to pop those in there. They just take...

-Salted, boiling water.

-..Two or three minutes. Yeah.

You don't want to boil them too hard.

I find they work better if you just take them off the heat.

Now, also you can buy noodles in the supermarket already cooked.

These are actually rice noodles.

-They will work, but the egg noodles work better.

-So, use the egg ones.

So, chicken livers.

If you can just grate me some ginger, that'd be great.

I'll just peel that and slice it up.

Chicken livers, to me, are one of the last great, cheap luxuries.

Now, if you look at this, they come in two lobes -

one large and one small.

Then they have a bit of fat and membrane in between

and you want to just take it off.

You want to just check each chicken liver, also, in case

they have any green spots on them.

The green spots doesn't mean that they're bad.

What the green spots are, are perhaps a little bit of bile.

Because the liver sits close to the bile duct which sometimes can

give you a spot on your liver and it's very bitter.

You just remove those out.

Yeah, yeah, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

-Now, chicken livers...

-Where does this idea come from?

Cos you've got Oriental ingredients you wouldn't

normally associate with chicken liver, I suppose.

No, I don't think so but the Chinese will eat anything.

I'm sure they've got wonderful recipes for chicken livers.

Now, it comes from the restaurant.

I think chicken liver is a very approachable,

fun dish for people to eat in a restaurant.

I love to do chicken liver salad etc.

But I like doing chicken liver risottos.

Like you did the orzo earlier, that would really suit chicken liver.

But I also like them with pasta as well.

So, I was doing it with pasta and I had a bit of black pepper

and pancetta and stuff in there and then I just started to think,

"No, I want to funk it up a bit.

"I want to use some of those lovely Asian flavours."

Now, this is the little trick that you do just to soften

the flavour of the chicken liver.

So, I put them onto some ice and then you soak them in milk.

And it gives them a lovely...

Look at Phil. He's watching as if, "I'm going to do this later."

Phil, you could just whack that into a blender, man.

That would be a good shake for you first thing in the morning.

-Lovely. Yeah, nice.

-No, people do eat raw liver shakes, don't they?

Why have you put ice in here? What does the ice do?

The ice just keeps everything really nice and fresh.

Liver is one thing that does spoil quite quickly.

-It taints quite quickly.

-So, this goes in the fridge for how long?

You just want to be a little bit careful.

-Yeah, just drain those off.

-I'll just get rid of the ice first.

Now, ideally, the noodles, you should probably cook beforehand.

Cook well beforehand.

Because what happens is that they dry out as they are cooling down

and absorb any excess moisture.

And that way they actually cook up much better

when you're doing this sort of crispy noodle cake type thing.

Now, the noodle cake, we cook them in a little ring.

If you could just drain those, that would be great.

A little bit of vegetable oil in the pan.

So, this is the idea of the crispness and soft in the middle.

-That sort of...

-Yeah.

I spent five months in China when I was young

and one of the best things I ever ate when I was in China was this

crispy noodle cake and it was cooked by a street vendor on a bin lid.

There's this wee man with a bin lid

and he's cooking his crispy noodle cakes and it was unforgettable.

It was just so delicious.

So, literally, they've had about two minutes.

No need to oil them, nothing.

-Just drain them off.

-There is oil in the pan.

Sometimes I season it with a little bit of soy sauce

and sesame oil, that's quite nice.

Make sure you've got enough oil in the pan.

OK, time to cook the chicken liver.

Chicken livers don't take very long at all.

They're best served pink. If you cook them too much

-they're going to dry out.

-They're ruined, aren't they?

They lose that beautiful succulence.

Also, they take on a different taste as well.

I just find them very grainy.

Yeah. Very much so. They retain that silkiness.

But also soaking in milk helps with that sort of silkiness.

Season them really well.

Yeah, season then really well and then a little bit of oil and butter.

When you say about cooking them too much,

how do you know when they are ready?

Literally, if you fry them off two, maybe three minutes maximum,

-that's all they want.

-How do you know though?

-Yeah, how do you know?

-Well, when you turn them over...

-Take one and eat one.

When you turn them over to the second side, you start to see

a bit of blood pushing up, a little bit of moisture pushing up.

It's a little bit the same with a steak.

That's pretty much when it's ready to go. That's when it's medium rare.

They really don't take very long.

Put them into a pan, spread them out and don't touch them, OK?

Let them just cook, OK?

Is that just for the colour or what?

Yeah, because you want that beautiful caramelisation.

You want that lovely caramelisation.

Now you've put them... Look at that. There you go.

It's all crispy on one side.

Yeah, you just need to be a little bit careful as you are cooking

that your heat is not too hot cos they'll...

Because it is egg, it'll darken very, very quickly.

So, you see, I haven't really touched these and I want to cook them

mostly on one side to get that beautiful caramelisation.

I'll turn them over. You quickly wash your hands.

-Cos otherwise your mother will be calling.

-I might kill Phil Vickery.

I was wanting to ask you, Phil,

do you ever get confused with your namesake?

Lots of people have actually mentioned it to me before.

They have looked at TV listings and timings

and settled down in front of the television...

-They hardly look alike though, do they?

-Lookalike, not.

Because I did Ready, Steady, Cook with you many years ago

and you were cooking with Phil Vickery

and I was cooking with Paul Rankin, who was an architect.

-I ended up on the same flight as Paul Rankin.

-Did you?

And we are sitting in the seats

and there was this big mistake with the seats.

"Someone else has your name." I went, "Aye, right."

And there was this guy Paul Rankin.

-How weird is that?

-Do you remember...?

In goes a little bit of ginger, at this stage.

-And they don't take very long now?

-We are pretty much there.

Out onto a plate.

This is a very quick dish, as well.

-Anything with chicken liver is very, very quick.

-Very much so.

Just pour that fat off a little bit. Keep this in...

-Glaze with a little bit of sherry.

-This is the sauce, OK.

A little bit of light brown sugar going in here.

A little bit of soy sauce. I use Japanese soy sauce.

This will give you this lovely, rich, dark colour.

Japanese soy sauce tastes different to the Chinese one.

A little bit different, yeah.

That's bizarre. Cream in Asian food.

Double cream going straight in there.

And you've got a sauce straight away.

What happened to our dinner reservation, you know?

I didn't book it.

We had kind of arranged to go out for dinner and I call him and he goes,

"I'm in Dubai." I go, "I'll never get to Dubai by 8.30."

Exactly.

-Exactly. You're stuck over here.

-I'll never get to Dubai by 8.30.

Right, where do you want this coriander?

Just put a little bit in the sauce.

I'm going to turn that pan off cos it'll reduce down to nothing.

Well, we can always add a touch more.

Look at that.

The secret is, crispy on the outside, literally,

just nice and soft in the middle. Keep the livers lovely and pink.

You can smell those flavours.

You can add a little bit of bok choy to this if you want.

Something like bok choy, spinach etc would be delicious.

-A few bits of chives there as well.

-Did I add black pepper into that?

-I can't remember.

-I'm going to...

You've done it now. There you go.

And just pile them up.

Needs a touch more cream just to soften it.

-Why not?

-Soften it a little bit.

This is the secret with anything with chicken livers,

it's very much last minute, isn't it, really?

It's got to be, you know?

Even for a dinner party,

if you're going to attempt it, literally, last minute.

And do you know what I love?

I love to use these juices here, if there's any left.

I just think they're beautiful.

There's not that much on there.

A little bit of chives going on there.

And, if you want, just a couple of sprigs of coriander.

So, what's the name of that dish again?

This is my spiced chicken livers with soy, black pepper and cream.

Delicious.

It smells delicious, but does it taste delicious?

Well, over to let Phil decide. There you go.

In fact, I should put you here, after saying that earlier.

We were going to arm wrestle earlier but he's afraid.

Exactly, yes.

You can tell us exactly what do you think.

Even if you really don't like it.

Remember, you are a rugby player.

You're straight-speaking, remember. Speak your mind.

-I used to be a rugby player.

-Really?

-Come on.

-I got too many injuries.

-Were you like a cheerleader of some sort?

I nearly got snapped in two once.

-I should imagine that's not difficult.

-Like a twig.

Beautiful. The sauce is stunning.

-The sauce is good?

-I'm an amazing chef. Amazing.

I can't believe you played rugby.

-You're like an ironing board with a beard.

-I was fast, you see.

-I could run away, no problem.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What do you reckon, girls?

Chicken liver, something you'd ever attempt?

I mean, it's so simple, little dish. You could use chicken livers,

duck livers as well is another thing you could use.

Absolutely. Duck livers are actually very similar.

When you get the fat on duck liver it changes completely.

It has to be really fresh though, that's the most important thing.

Often great to buy them frozen cos then you know

they are really super fresh and then you just pour in the milk.

-Something you would have a go at?

-Definitely.

My only concern would be the cooking of the livers cos

if it's not done right, it's over, isn't it?

Secret - hot pan and, as James said, about three minutes.

Or pay him to come round and cook your dinner. He's very cheap.

If you have had enough of pate

and want an alternative way to serve chicken livers, that's great.

Coming up, I'll be making a pear and perry crumble with cinnamon custard

for actress and impressionist Debra Stephenson.

But first, Rick Stein is getting some Irish inspiration

from one of his food heroes.

James Whelan's Butchers in Clonmel is not what I'd been expecting.

I suppose I'm always looking for old-fashioned butchers with

wooden blocks, sawdust and great chines of beef

and ruddy-faced butchers, podgy with sausage.

But Pat Whelan, who has taken over the business,

is not just a successful butcher, he's a farmer as well.

And although he runs a pretty slick operation here,

it's all about good, local produce.

In this area, we are trusted. It's built over generations.

I'm fifth generation in the business

and it is that element of trust, that whole transparency, that

it's evident to the people of this area, what we do in the area.

It's tangible. We are tangible and that's what people want now.

They want safe, healthy, properly produced, low-density, eco-friendly.

That's what people want.

Do you think that people around here can appreciate the difference

between supermarket beef and the quality beef that you are selling?

Clonmel has 20,000 people.

It's represented by each of the multinational supermarket chains

and we still survive and are building and building,

stronger and stronger every week.

But you've got to develop your unique selling point.

You have got to source your beef.

You've got to take care. You've got to pride in your business.

It's all of that.

It doesn't come in a vac-pack bag. It comes as we see it here.

You prepare it. Your skill, your craft -

that's what makes the difference.

If you don't have a unique selling point, you're wasting your time.

You're then competing with the supermarkets.

Price isn't the differentiator - it's down to quality.

I'm making a dish with a real Irish flavour,

which is steak, Guinness and oyster pie.

I've just cubed the beef into good inch to inch-and-a-half pieces

and then lightly dusting it in flour before frying.

You don't always have to sear the meat when you make a pie but, in this

case, I think it's important in order to get a really dark and rich colour.

It makes such a difference to the finished look.

Once it is brown, take it out of the pan and take a little butter and

fry off the onions until they are soft and browned too

and add a little salt.

So, those onions are nice and brown now and glistening

so I need to pour the beef back in again now.

The reason for splitting them up is so that you don't overload

the pan and everything has a chance to brown well.

Next, I'm going to add some stout.

Half a pint of stout

and half a pint of good beef stock.

Now some mushrooms. A whole bowl of button mushrooms.

And a bouquet garni.

And now some Worcester sauce.

About two tablespoons, but you don't need to be too precise.

Quite a lot of it, really.

And now some salt -

about a teaspoon and a half.

And lots and lots of black pepper.

About 40 turns of the black pepper mill. That's good.

Now then, put a lid on there

and just leave it to simmer away very gently

for about an hour or so.

So, you can see that really nice, dark colour I was looking for.

Deep, deep brown. The mushrooms are cooked right down.

Look at that sauce.

It's a really nice sort of viscous... A word I'm very fond of.

And finally, to shuck the oysters. Now, this is the occasion when,

because I'm doing this on TV, I will stick myself in my hand or

I'll graze my knuckles on the oyster shells or I'll break

the oyster in half and all the little filigree pieces of shell will

go into the oyster meat. Just watch.

That's the one where I didn't cut myself. Number two.

Good.

Three.

I've heard that some of these TV cooks have a stuntman to

do these close-up shots of things like,

dangerous things like opening oysters.

And then in the wider shot it is me.

I do all my own stunts.

Now I'm starting to get cocky.

Four.

Some people think that this sort of pie goes back to Victorian times

when oysters were very, very cheap

and there is a theory that it was a substitute for the meat that wasn't.

But I don't think that's true.

I think it just gives the stew and all the pie a nice,

salty savouriness in the same way that you put

anchovies in meat things or the Chinese put oyster sauce in things.

Notice that all the precious liquor from the oyster goes in as well

giving a nice saltiness to the gravy in the pie.

Give it all a gentle stir

and pop one of those little ceramic gizmos in the middle.

Seal the edge with some beaten egg, put a puff pastry top over the lot.

So, just crimping the edges here to make sure they're sealed

together nicely and don't fall into the middle of the pie.

Put a cross on the middle to let the steam out.

And finally, brush with beaten egg.

Well, that goes in a hot oven for about 30-35 minutes.

There we go.

And I'm just anticipating that coming out and cutting through

the crust and getting the aroma of steak and oysters.

And I'll serve it with, well, I think, boiled potatoes,

some spring cabbage and maybe a glass of stout.

We used to do this in the early days of the restaurant

but with only one or two oysters because they were so expensive.

You need lots for the flavour to come through.

Corned beef hash was made famous

by Irish-Americans in the mid-1800s where they had hash houses.

But it was regarded as low-grade food and the cooks were called

hash-slingers, but now it is back in fashion.

The main thing about this dish is to get the potatoes

and onions nicely browned before adding the hashed beef.

The only other ingredients are a good quantity of parsley, which

freshens it all up nicely, a slug of Worcestershire sauce,

a smidgen of Tabasco and salt and pepper.

Do you know, this is the first dish I started

cooking on my own in a flat in Earls Court as a teenager.

And why is it so successful?

Well, because you have to have two fried eggs with it

and the combination is perfection.

Well, that and, dare I say it, ketchup.

Tomato ketchup? In a cookery programme?

-I'm not going to ask.

-Oh, come on, James.

I bet you use ketchup and I've got ketchup in the other thing.

We use it, yeah, exactly. I think it's fantastic.

Well, when the weather is cold at the moment,

you can't beat a good pie, like what Rick did.

That lovely steak and oyster pie looked delicious.

It inspired me to do this. It's not a pie but it's a crumble.

It's done in more or less real-time.

What we're going to do is start off with a little base for our crumble.

I've got my pears here. We're going to dice these up.

You can do pear and apple crumble exactly the same way but I'm

going to do that with a little cinnamon custard to go with it.

And you've got perry with it as well, haven't you?

Perry, yeah. I don't understand why, though, they call it pear cider.

I think it's probably cos...

Well, cos people don't know what it means,

but the fact is that it's a drink in its own, a class of its own

and very good that you're using it, I say.

It's a West Country drink, as you probably know.

Yeah, exactly, giving it a plug. But I think it's fantastic.

Have you ever tried perry before?

It just happens to be in my Christmas programme that's coming up.

Oh, really? Funny, that(!)

No, I haven't and I live... Is Poole the West Country?

It's kind of West Country. That's where I live.

We're doing panto in Poole, by the way.

There's a pear called Stinking Bishop

-and that's where the cheese gets its name from.

-Oh, is it. Oh, OK.

-My daughter likes pears.

-Facts you didn't know about pears.

Anyway, just going to saute that off with a little bit of butter,

tiny bit of sugar and some of this perry.

And call it perry, don't call it pear cider. A bit of perry.

It is absolutely delicious stuff. We are going to stew that down.

Over here, I've got my custard on. Milk, cream, vanilla -

-cos I know you love vanilla - a bit of cinnamon in there.

-I do.

And that goes in.

Like I was saying at the top of the show, cookery is

the only thing you haven't really done because you started so young.

-Opportunity knocks.

-Yes.

-Aged just, what, were you 13?

-14.

-14 years old.

-Don't tell me you've got some awful clip of it.

Yeah, we are going to play it now. No, only kidding.

I've seen that too many times.

-But, I mean, amazing cos you got through to the final as well.

-Yes.

Which was live from The Palladium and it got, I can't remember how

many viewers but I think it was something like 20 million viewers.

It was in the days when we only had three channels, I think.

So it was, yeah, it was amazing.

And then, you know, I went back to school

and I had to kind of start all over again.

But, I mean, the comedy circuit, was that kind of...

-You mentioned your father and stuff.

-Yeah.

-Was that were you cut your inspiration to do impressions?

-Yes.

I had drama lessons when I was six

so I knew I wanted to be an actress and singing lessons

and dancing and piano and all that kind of thing

and I started to do impressions with my dad.

-AS PAM AYRES:

-Oh, I wish I'd looked after my teeth.

You know, Pam Ayres and people like that when I was young.

I said, "Could you write me a script

"cos we've got a talent show at school?" And he wrote a script

and that was the first time I did them in front of anyone.

I was about nine.

I remember I had a box, a suitcase of wigs that I used to turn round

and put on and everybody was clapping and cheering and laughing.

And I thought, "Oh, this is going really, really well."

And I realised that every time I...

Well, I realised cos my friend told me later.

Every time I bent down to get my next wig on I was bending over

and my skirt kept riding up above my tights. I was only nine

and all the children were laughing at me.

You know, and nine-year-old with the gusset round by your knees.

It was a bit embarrassing.

I mean, after you left school you were doing that as a living,

really, on the circuit, were you?

Yeah, I guess so.

I was doing panto and summer season and working men's social clubs,

that sort of thing.

And then I started to dabble in more alternative comedy.

Through doing a couple of Spitting Images I met Steve Coogan

and John Thomson and was really inspired by them

and decided to go to Edinburgh and do that kind of comedy

and then, in the end, I just thought,

"I don't know if this is going to get me into comedy acting

"and maybe I should just go to drama school."

And do acting. So, it wasn't until you were, what, in your 20s?

I went at 21. 21, yeah.

And then I got all my breaks in drama, funnily enough.

So I've kind of come full circle now.

It kind of paid off cos I mean, recently,

we all know you from Coronation Street, of course.

-Yeah.

-Is that two years of that?

-Three, nearly.

Nearly three. Yeah, it seems like a long time ago now.

And then, talking of TV, back into now because you're quite busy

with the old, with Jon Culshaw doing the old...

The Impression Show, which is on tomorrow at 10.25

and Saturdays at six thereafter.

Go on then, tell us about it. New characters or...?

Yeah, we thought, obviously, we did a series last year

and we've got a few new characters.

We've got Fearne Cotton...

-AS FEARNE COTTON:

-..with major Oh, my God-age, that so rocks!

And we've still got one or two of the older ones like Davina...

Which is...

-AS DAVINA MCCALL:

-Oh, my gosh, that is amazing, amazing food.

So, yeah, we've got a few of the older ones and a few new ones.

Lady Gaga dressing up and you have got to look out for Jon's,

on tomorrow's show, Jon's camp class show.

You know that Monty Python sketch with, "He's upper-class..."

-CLATTERING

-Oh!

-Carry on, nobody noticed.

-You've dropped a clanger there.

Yeah, that's very funny, with his Alan Carr...

Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.

Yeah, that sketch but he's made it Paul O'Grady, Graham Norton

and Alan Carr and it's very, very...

That's one of my favourite sketches from the whole thing.

It's a real delight to work with Jon, I must say. He's brilliant.

What about chefs? You must be doing one.

We've got to get some of the TV chefs in.

Technically, that was the most difficult...

-Don't worry, Rick, you're safe.

-I think Gordon would be a good one.

-You'd have some fun there.

-Yes, Gordon's in it. And Sophie Dahl.

Oh, yeah, now that's good.

-AS SOPHIE DAHL:

-Well, you know, she's got that sort of appeal about her

and there is some delicious food.

Yeah, so we put them all together in a period drama,

which is quite amusing.

And Ainsley Harriot plays himself.

It's the only cameo in the whole show, the only person that

comes into it as themselves and it's Ainsley, so that's quite fun.

-He'd love that.

-He would actually like that.

Our Antony Worrall Thompson, as well, you couldn't

tell from the real thing but you've got to see the voice.

I've got him. Down here.

Only joking, only joking.

It is funny, it is funny. It's quite funny.

We love him. We love him.

I've done most of it already. I've made the crumble. That's in there.

Yeah, you've been busy, haven't you, while we've been chatting away?

I have, yeah. I've really just got it in the microwave.

It's just defrosting in the microwave.

-And no lumps in your custard, I'm sure.

-No, this is proper custard.

Notice it's custard, it's not creme anglaise. We are not in France.

-It's custard.

-Custard.

You know, our chefs call it anglaise. It's horrible.

It's like saying things eat well as opposed to taste good.

They talk about an anglaise. Shall I make an anglaise with this, then?

Either call it custard or creme anglaise, but anglaise? No.

-Please call it custard.

-We call it crema pasticcera.

Oh, right.

That sounds nice, doesn't it? It always sounds nicer in Italian.

Did the Italians invent it, then?

Of course.

Of course. What a surprise.

Well, in my creme brulee, I always put Mascarpone.

How do you say Mascarpone?

-Mascarpone.

-Mascarpone. I'm going to learn to...

Of course, I mean, a creme brulee, Mascarpone lifts the dish.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm going to learn to speak Italian.

While they're all chatting away like the WI, over here...

You invite us on here and then abuse us, I don't know(!)

I've got my crumble over here.

It's a crumble but I suppose

that Italian over there has got some fancy name for it.

Crumble.

I tell you what, they don't make it in Italy.

They do. It's called crumblini.

-We use breadcrumbs for something else.

-Breadcrumbs.

-Milanese.

I'm only joking.

And we've got our custard on there.

-There you have your perry, pear and custard.

-Oh, lovely.

Oh, and I get to try this.

-I'm keeping this one for myself.

-Dive into that.

-Thank you, I will.

Perry, if you can get hold of it, is fantastic, not only to cook with

but just to drink with, it's wonderful, wonderful stuff.

Do you ever put cornflour in your custard? You don't need to, do...

Right, so what we'll be cooking with Debra at the end of the show...

And let's face it, who doesn't love hot crumble at this time of year?

Now, if you want to cook anything from today's show,

you can find all the recipes at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

We are not live today but instead we're looking back at some

of the most memorable clips from our Saturday Kitchen archives.

Now, we Brits love Italian food and one of our favourite

Italian chefs is the endlessly enthusiastic Gennaro Contaldo.

-Great to have you back again.

-Thank you.

-Happy New Year.

-Very well.

-Did you see the snow outside?

-I did see the snow.

-Very good to ski.

Why are you so brown?

-Well, I, yeah...

-Yeah, well, look at me.

-Lying on a beach.

What do you think? What are we going to do?

What we are going to do, we are going to make this lovely fillet of pork

coated with walnuts and breadcrumbs and herbs.

Which you will love it. Then we are going to do these herb chips,

which, again, is white of eggs, chips, mix all herbs

and coated around and fried with fantastic, with a lovely salad

-and a squeeze of Amalfi lemon.

-Amalfi lemon.

So you want me to do the crust for these. These are the potatoes.

-So tell us about the potatoes, then. How do we prepare these?

-Oh, easy.

Everybody can do it.

Make sure the potatoes are very clean and they're not wet.

It is very important. OK?

Then put them on the table

and you cut them in strips of three or four.

Leave them a little bit chunky.

-These are the large new potatoes.

-Large new potatoes, yes.

BLENDER WHIRRS LOUDLY

They are hardly anything.

SHOUTS: And it is very good for children, this dish.

-Can I say something?

-Yes, there you go.

Children would love this particular one.

Remember, everything is coated in breadcrumbs

and don't even say the nugget. Don't say the nugget.

We've got egg white here.

This is the egg white that I used from that last dish that I made.

-That's the crumbs.

-You mix little bits.

-Have you seasoned?

-No.

-Just a minute, don't run away.

-You see, I have to show you almost everything. Seasoning.

-Seasoning.

OK, that's good. Let me just get...

I'll do the crust for our pork which we've got in here?

-So, crumbs, same quantity of crumbs to walnuts?

-Yeah.

Put them on top there.

Make sure you do quite fine.

Did you know, one out of every four potatoes in England become chips?

Really? I didn't know that.

There you go. Useless fact for 2010. There you go.

Something for the pub quiz. A little bit of fresh thyme.

We'll take this off. This has walnuts and everything else.

Now the pork. Explain to us what cut we've got here then?

This is a fillet. You could do it with almost all kind of a pork.

It's nice this time of year to do a bit of fillets.

I nearly done something I'm not supposed to be doing.

So, you press them a little bit. So simple.

Ask your children to help.

"Mummy, I want to chop?" "Yeah, OK, do it!"

Season a little bit.

One side and then the other side. Look how fast I am!

A bit of pepper.

-That's the crumbs.

-Can you break some eggs inside there,

-thank you very much?

-That's your flour.

You are slow. You are very, very slow. Look at that!

-I'm doing more or less everything.

-I know. But...

Let's have a look. Mix the eggs with a fork.

You get a fork from there. Thank you.

At least you're doing something.

Flour, egg and breadcrumbs. You've been busy over Christmas.

-Getting ready to launch your new cookbook.

-It is indeed.

Middle of February, Gennaro, Easy Italian.

There is a section for children, which is unbelievable.

-It's very, very good indeed.

-What? To learn how to cook?

To learn how to cook!

-I could start with that section.

-Yes.

It's a good idea, isn't it, getting your children cooking early?

Because then they never get the fear that I've got.

A really romantic thing to do - you two cook for each other as well, don't you?

Until he gets a bit controlling and I get out of the way.

After many years, I'm teaching him to do it. He saw my oil was burned.

Do you know what he's done? He straight away went

to get the new oil. Do you know what?

I'm going to cook inside without putting it on a flame.

It wasn't that it was burned, I used the wrong oil. It was vegetable oil.

Speak English. I don't understand.

These chips take what? Six minutes, seven minutes?

-Six minutes.

-Why are you not meant to cook with olive oil?

-With olive oil, it burns really.

-It burns quick.

Extra virgin old in a little bit.

Look at that! Oh, God!

Yeah, if you're not careful, it burns.

I was doing well until you removed my...

It's looking good, Gennaro.

It's looking good.

We like a bit of crispiness.

He always manages to catch it. It's almost done.

There's a sink in the back there, if you want to wash your hands.

It's all right. Just remove it.

He always manages to let me burn things.

It's sabotage. Deliberate sabotage!

It's OK. Give me the plate.

Do you want me to do the salad first?

If you give me the plate first.

-Look at that!

-Turned it over.

-That's all right. It's not bad.

-There you go.

So we've got the roquette, a little bit of red chard in here

and a little bit of chicory. I'm going to put some of the lemons and olives in there.

Yet, it still come out nice.

You know, I had a little boy helping me,

changing my oil and everything.

What can I do? I cannot help.

Nice little salad. Nice lemon.

You've been to Italy recently, haven't you? Doing about olive oil?

Olive indeed. Yes, indeed. We went to search for the olive oil

for the restaurant.

And we did manage to find this fantastic olive oil,

which some of olives are collected

from 500 years old olives tree.

-That is unbelievable. Can I have the salad here?

-Yeah.

OK. Come on. Not put them on top there.

You put them on top there. You ruin my lovely food.

-I was going to cover it up.

-You don't cover up. That is nice.

-A few of these green olives on the side.

-I see! Like that.

You love your olive oil.

-A 500-year-old tree?

-A 500-year-old tree.

-Are you happy with that?

-Look at that! Come on!

You manage to do everything.

Remind us what that is again?

It is fillet of pork, coated with walnuts and breadcrumbs

-and herby chips.

-Yeah, with a little bit of crusty bit underneath.

It's not crusty bit, it's you, my good friend.

-There you go.

-That's correct.

-This is where you get to dive in.

-There you go!

-I want the crusty bit. That's my favourite bit.

Before you go, I have to come along

because I have to show you some trick,

because, without lemon...

I thought you were going to show me how to squeeze a lemon.

I'm not that bad!

Seriously, it's very quick to cook.

It is indeed. It's fantastic actually!

A dish, especially for children.

A different way to give them a meat.

Remember, they always like something coated and fried.

This way's good. You find the meat cooks very fast

and it's still nice inside.

The chips have got lovely herbs in it and a very healthy salad.

Which herbs went into it again?

That is amazing! Again, amazing!

-Sorry, you were asking?

-Which herbs went into it?

-I saw the rosemary and thyme.

-Rosemary we've got.

We've got thyme, rosemary, chives.

-And sage.

-And sage.

-There you go.

-Happy with that?

So happy, I can't speak.

It just goes to show that even the most enthusiastic of chefs

need to keep an eye on his pans.

Now it's time for a portion of those fantastic Two Fat Ladies.

They take a trip to Cornwall to discover some of the finest

fish in the country. Enjoy this one!

Now everybody loves a fish pie, don't they?

I don't know anybody who doesn't.

I want to use coley, because no-one uses coley

and it's a very fine fish indeed.

Some people think it's only for cats but it's not.

It's a wonderful, flaky fish. Ask any fisherman. They're very proud of it.

So, I'm using coley, mixed with smoked haddock,

because that gives a good flavour.

At the bottom of the dish, I've already prepared it,

some cooked, buttered spinach.

It's a nice surprise to find at the bottom and it goes very well.

First, to mix them all together, I must go and make a Bechamel.

What I'm going to cook is a monkfish tail - a gigot of monkfish.

A gigot is French for a leg of lamb.

Or indeed the Scots, they call it a gigot.

And you can see the shape of it is rather like the shape

of a leg of lamb. I'm going to lard it with anchovies.

You'll probably know about larding because it's normally something

you do with game, or other very dry meats,

to put moistness through them.

This is my larding needle. Look at my nice larding needle!

-It's a wonderful weapon!

-I know. Stick it in the burglar.

If you haven't got one, just use a sharp knife with a point on it.

So, you just make a hole in.

Then you tuck your anchovy in and keep pushing it in patiently.

It's all very well to have fast food, and you need it

in this day and age, but now and again it's nice

to do things slowly and gradually.

Very good for the busy businessman, to come home

and make a serious meal - it would calm them down no end.

I do know some who do.

They come home and they settle down and cook a proper dinner

and they find it relaxing. You know, after the ghastly things they do

in the City with stocks and shares

and destroying each other's reputations.

Now I've larded my monkfish, I'm going to put rosemary around it.

It's a lovely combination - rosemary and monkfish. Very unusual.

You tuck it all underneath. Lots of it. Lots and lots of rosemary.

Very good with fish, rosemary.

This monkfish tail has already been marinated in, um,

lemon juice and olive oil - just to moisten it.

-It's quite a dry fish.

-Very Italian.

-Very Welsh.

-Welsh led Italian.

-I daresay they probably...

they probably didn't get it from each other.

I'm just going to pour a little more oil over it

and more oil over the rosemary.

It's the essential oils of the rosemary that need to be

brought out, do it in contact with oil or fat.

There's no indigenous fat in the monkfish.

-I love that smell the rosemary produces.

-So do I.

Very good with pike.

-And, there we are. All ready to bung in the oven.

-Beautiful!

-See you in a tick.

-I'll assemble my pie.

-Very good.

I want to put my fish into my Bechamel.

There goes the haddock.

There go my lovely flakes of coley, which have been slightly poached.

I'm going to put in a good slurp of lovely anchovy essence,

which is one of my most favourite old-fashioned essences,

and brings out the flavour a treat,

in any fish pie, or anything like that.

You can see, we're rather fond of anchovy.

It's a very good thing because the taste of anchovy sort of disappears.

It just produces a fine flavour.

Stir that in.

There, that's a lovely mixture.

We'll put it all on.

There we go!

Smooth it over.

Now, prawns.

Prawns for treats.

Try and put these in sort of evenly,

so everybody gets a fair share.

Just over the top.

Now, we must put the potato on the top.

Now, this will be enough for a regiment.

You can feed a good, hungry family or just friends.

Why not friends?

Now then, we make it into a herringbone shape.

Some go that way, some go that way.

Like that good tweed, made of cold herringbone. Ready for the oven.

And that's about it.

Very good.

And I'm going to make a hot tomato vinaigrette to go over the monkfish.

In here, I've got more than twice as much oil as I've got vinegar.

Some salt, some pepper. Just heat it through.

It's very good either with fish or with poultry - a hot vinaigrette.

And then I'm going to put the tomatoes in.

And stir it.

We don't want the tomatoes to fall apart.

They're quite finely chopped.

I just want to heat them through.

-Look what I've found!

-Well done, dear! Just in time.

That's wonderful.

All I have to do is pour it over the top.

-Splatter, splatter.

-It's jewels spread across it.

-That's right.

Look at that! Mwah!

Before John and Audrey went away, they said we could get crabs

and lobsters from someone called Lawrence.

He's a fisherman with a green boat, who's usually round here.

That would be great. I want to get scallops.

They don't have scallops here but they've got them at Foy.

-They dive for them at Foy.

-That's not very far.

No! We'd have them sent over. That's not a problem.

There's lots of mussels on the beaches round here.

-They'd be nice.

-We can go and gather some.

Gather us mussels while we may.

Indeed! I wonder if that's him there.

-The kneeling man?

-That's right. Hello. Are you Lawrence?

-Are you Lawrence?

-Yes.

-Great.

-Clarissa and Jennifer.

John and Audrey from the Shark's Fin said that we could get

crabs and lobsters from you, is that right?

Not at the moment but I'm going to sea in about two hours.

-Can we come with you?

-Can if you like.

-Love to.

The last time I was down here, there was a beach, not very far,

that had lots of mussels on it, which we went and picked.

-Where would that be?

-Hammock?

-Hammock, that's it.

That's about three miles.

-We could do that and then return to you.

-Yes, OK.

-Two hours' time by the lighthouse.

-See you later.

-All right. Cheers. All the best.

-What a sweet fellow!

-Wasn't he nice?

It looks murky and wet out there.

-Do you think we should put our wellies on?

-I certainly do.

We'll get soaked otherwise. Wet feet.

-Look, lots!

-We've got snails as well.

-Winkles. Periwinkles.

-Aren't they pretty - the blue?

-Aren't the rocks lovely too.

They're probably a bit small to serve in the restaurant, don't you think?

Yes, too small. They'd be too much trouble but they'd be delicious.

-We can eat them.

-Yeah. We can go and have a cook-up for us.

Yeah, everybody's used to those big, horrid ones.

There are terrible ones that are farmed, which are really disgusting.

Great white flesh.

Oh, you mean the green-lipped ones, or whatever they're called.

Green-lipped - a terrible thing to say, isn't it?

I can hardly get these off.

I've probably got enough now if it's just going to be for us.

Shall I go back and start getting the fire started and cooking up?

-Yes, I'll try and get a few more.

-OK, right.

-Well, I'll see you back up there.

-OK.

-You've been picking them in your helmet.

-Yes, it's a great mistake.

It'll stink!

-They need washing?

-No.

No, I've rinsed them in the rock pool.

-Good, well done. What have you got there?

-Not many.

-We have got enough.

It's only for us.

What have you put in already?

I melted the butter and I softened the shallot

and I put some parsley and wine in and brought it up.

-Now we wait.

-Perhaps I ought to put my helmet on the top of the saucepan?

What a brilliant idea. That is very good.

Don't know what it will do to the helmet.

Well, it is all in a good cause. All in a good cause.

Wow. They must be crazy. Extraordinary.

-Very tasty, aren't they?

-Yes, they are small but delicious.

Here is one that is broken. I will sling that.

You have to be so careful, don't you?

-You must be.

-You finish those up and I will start packing up

otherwise we will be late for Lawrence.

To the lighthouse! I hope the weather clears up for the trip.

Right. We are here.

-Watch the exhaust pipe. It might be hot.

-Yes.

-Where are our delicious fisherman? Hey, Lawrence. We're here!

-Morning, ladies, how are you?

-Fine. How are you?

-Dead on time, aren't we?

-How are you, Trevor?

-All right.

-Lifejackets. Ugh!

-Nanny government. Thank you.

-That's yours.

-Lovely, thanks very much.

-Loose up me corsets, Trevor!

-It is like a walking duvet.

I feel like a Dalek. Dun-dum-dum!

I hate to tell you, but you look like one and all!

LAUGHTER

Fall into the arms of Lawrence. Oh, Lawrence!

Whoops!

-Don't worry.

-Whoops! All aboard.

That lovely smelly fish.

Bait, crab bait. Here we go. Give us a sea shanty.

# Hey, little fishy Don't cry, don't cry

# Hey, little fishy Don't cry, don't cry. #

That was the song Spencer Tracy sang in Captains Courageous.

MUSIC PLAYS

Hey! You beauty.

We have got another one coming up.

-We will start bowling soon.

-Here comes the Armada!

Catch you not, sleeping down below...

I am having the pleasure of cooking scallops with leeks

and flavoured with some white wine and vermouth.

Clarissa's going to do something quite different.

I am going to do crab for my seafood dish.

Crab, corn and coriander fritters.

I am going to clean this crab, take the claws off.

This is a whole crab which has been boiled.

Everybody thinks there are large chunks of the crab

that are poisonous that you can't eat, which is complete fallacy.

The only bit, as you will see when I open it, that you can't eat,

are the dead men's fingers which you would not want to eat anyway.

These horrible bits that look like used latex or

I don't know quite what. You really wouldn't want to eat those.

There would be no temptation at all.

So I am going to get all the meat fiddled out of this bit.

There is a lot of meat in here.

It is a very good job to give to your ten-year-old children.

I remember when we were children sitting round with skewers

fiddling out the bits of crab. It was great fun.

Anyway, whatever, it is going to take me a bit of time

because I have not got any ten-year-old children.

Jennifer, do you want to get on with yours for the moment?

Yes, well, my leeks are practically ready

because I thought I would get them out of the way.

Simmer them with just eight spoonfuls of water

until they become almost like pale green spaghetti.

Then we keep them aside and we'll get on with the scallops.

When you first buy them this is what they look like,

which may frighten you.

If you ask your kind fishmonger he will remove all that for you.

But he probably won't do it all

and you will end up with this charming little fellow and he will

have this little bit of black here

which is a bit of intestine, I think, really.

It does not do anybody any harm, but we will remove that.

A pair of scissors is quite useful. You can just snip it off.

Peel it away like that. An ounce of butter in there.

We have some nice little chopped shallots.

These have to melt, get soft, you don't want them

feeling al dente in the sauce.

It does not take long.

There we are. Add half a glass of wine, white wine.

Whoosh.

And some vermouth. Dry white vermouth

which gives a very good flavour and I like having vermouth around

because I am not tempted to drink it, but that is very good for cooking.

Now we will put the scallops in.

Separate the coral from the white bit. There is a beautiful one.

-That is a wonderful colour.

-Isn't that glorious, yes.

It will now come to a simmer.

They take about two minutes. Don't overcook them.

They are better raw than overcooked.

So then when they are done, press the juice...

..out from the leeks.

Put that in the bottom of the pan.

Then we get the scallops. We take them out.

We put them all on top.

Look how beautiful they are

with the pale, pale green and the coral. Lovely.

Now we can have our fun making the sauce.

It's always fun. Get this hot again.

We want the juices from the leeks as well

into there.

We want to reduce this so you can bubble away like mad.

We have got a lovely bowl of Cornish cream. We will add that.

This is nice and rich. I like rich food.

None of this nonsense about yoghurt instead of cream. Yoghurt is

not instead of cream.

Yoghurt is very good for your breakfast

or if you have a poor tummy or if you are a vegetarian or something.

But for cream there is nothing better than cream.

Nothing better than cream.

It is unctuous, it's rich, and it collects everything together.

You cannot beat it.

That has bubbled and it will be thick.

Let's have a look. Wonderful, wonderful.

Now we just pour it all over our dish.

-Isn't that pretty?

-Isn't that very pretty?

Just to finish it off, we'll put some parsley.

There, she is beautiful, she is beautiful. Fit for a king.

It does look wonderful.

I will just take it through, then I will come back

and get rid of my mess.

Right, well I am just going to finish stripping off the corn.

This is the last of the six ears of corn

and you just cut down the ear.

All you need is a sharp knife. It is really very simple.

You may think it is easier to use

a tin or frozen corn, which of course you can if you haven't got

the real thing, but I think the real thing is a lot sweeter and nicer.

I have already stripped the other ones and put them

with the brown and white crab meat into this bowl.

All that in and now I am going to add to it some crushed garlic.

A couple of cloves of crushed garlic,

some onion, some fresh coriander,

lovely green fresh coriander.

I am also going to use some ground coriander - not the same thing

because ground coriander is coriander seeds ground up.

If you use them both

you just get more of a flavour of coriander through it.

Some salt and pepper...

..to season.

And then three eggs...

..which I am just going to break into this bowl

and lightly whisk together.

Pour that in.

Now I am going to mix in some flour, not all at once, but in three bits.

You mix it through thoroughly each time. Use your hands.

I think I had a deprived childhood.

I wasn't allowed to make mud patties or something.

This mixture needs to rest in the fridge and chill for half a day.

You can if you are in a hurry leave it for less

but the longer it stays there the better it coheres

and the easier it is for frying.

Then when it is cold you just want to mix it around together one more

time in case it has separated out a bit and now I am ready to fry it.

Ooh, I am the kitchen fairy!

Just a moment.

THEY LAUGH

-All done, all done. A waft of the wand...

-The real kitchen fairy.

-I'm longing to see this.

-Mmm!

Well, I've got some oil here which I'm going to put into the pan.

Just ordinary cooking oil, you know, sort of...

-Nice old pan.

-Yeah, I love these old pans,

the heavier the better, really, these pans.

You want to get it nice and hot.

-Right, so you make a two-inch sort of pate of it.

-Lovely mince.

Yes, isn't it? Mud pies again.

You drop a bit of corn in to see if it's hot, you see,

and it sizzles up like that, and you just drop it into the pan

and leave it to fry.

What you mustn't do is turn it over too quickly.

You must let it cook underneath.

-They're like little rock cakes.

-I know, isn't it?

Wipe me hands.

-That's not for you to wipe your hands on!

-Is it not? What is it for?

-That's my oven cloth!

-Well, I'm very sorry about that.

-I made a right old mess of it now.

-Dirty!

It's supposed to be proof that you love somebody

if you're prepared to stand over a hot stove for hours

frying up little cakes for them.

-Never mind, get on with it.

-Yes, Jennifer.

Right.

And you just keep going till they're done, really.

And pop them in the oven to keep warm.

Pop them in the oven to keep warm, absolutely.

'These crab cakes are delicious as a starter

'with a salsa or a squeeze of lime.'

Thank you very much, thank you.

'Serve a good robust red wine with this fish pie, not white.'

'This monkfish makes a wonderful dinner party dish served with

'spinach and a gratin of potatoes.'

'A good crust of bread is all you need with these scallops.'

What a long day. I'd forgotten how exhausting running a restaurant is.

It's the feet, it's standing all the time.

I think my feet were bound as a child, they've never recovered.

I've put the Papals on.

So wise, dear.

THEY LAUGH

Never mind, I think it was a great success. So, there we are, dear.

-Here's to your beautiful eyes.

-And yours, dear, and yours! Chin chin!

We're not cooking live in the studio today.

Instead we're bringing you some of the great New Year food

from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

So still to come on today's Best Bites,

Fernando Stovell and Cyrus Todiwala go head to head at the hobs

in the Saturday Kitchen Omelette Challenge.

Silvena Rowe puts her mark on monkfish.

She sears and serves it in a unique way,

with a delicious hazelnut dukkah and sumac onions.

And Pub Landlord Al Murray gets to eat Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Will he get his idea of Food Heaven, golden syrup and a sweet

and tasty treacle tart, or Hell, rice, in the form of a warm,

baked rice pudding served with raspberry sauce?

You can see what Al gets at the end of today's show.

Now, whenever Kevin Dundon makes the journey from County Wexford

in Ireland, he always brings with him a fantastic seasonal recipe,

and here's a great way to serve venison this January.

What are you cooking, cos this is a real winter warmer, in't it?

It is, but it's bang in season at the moment

and I just think that venison's such a healthy meat to eat as well.

It's beautiful, which Mel will love because it's so healthy, no fat.

-Yeah.

-OK, so it's a lovely loin of venison.

We're going to marinate that in some olive oil, bay leaf,

juniper berries and thyme.

OK, and it's served with what?

Well, it's going to be served with rosti potato

and then salted, pan-roasted root vegetables, OK,

and then we're going to finish with a port wine and kumquat jus.

OK, so first thing first, you're going to get that on.

We're going to marinate that.

I'll peel your potato cos you want me to do the rosti first.

With venison, because it's a natural animal,

they all come in different sizes obviously, so normally,

the venison that we would get, we get it from County Wicklow and it's

normally around this size, so I'm just going to cut that in half.

You mentioned that it's healthy because it's very lean, innit?

Very lean and it's so moist. Little bit of olive oil then.

It's just a really simple marinate.

So, olive oil.

Then we put our bay leaves, juniper berries and thyme into there, OK.

Now I'm going to marinate that,

you want to marinate it for at least an hour,

-but you know, the longer the better.

-Straight in the fridge. OK.

The right dish for this time of year, don't you think so, James?

I think it is.

The thing about venison is, I don't think a lot of people like it

cos sometimes it can be hung for too long and it becomes very gamey.

See, I don't really like that gamey,

I'm just going to throw this on because we want to get it going.

-Oh, I love that gamey taste.

-Do you?

-Oh, my God, yes.

-I love it when it's not too gamey.

-Yes.

Then you get the true flavour of the meat.

I think when it's hung too long you lose the flavour of the meat

and you're just tasting the really gamey flavour,

-so basically salt and pepper then.

-Yeah.

So is this something you'd attempt at home or not?

No, I'd leave that to my husband.

Yeah, all looks very complicated and timings and everything, no.

Well, rosti's pretty straightforward, really,

but you can...do you mix it with anything,

-butter, or are you just going to leave it plain?

-Just leave it plain.

You can put celeriac in there

if you want to put in interesting flavours.

What's really good is if you grate some apple through there.

You're going to get lovely flavours through there.

Bit of parsnip or something like that.

OK, for our sauce we're going to get a shallot.

Some people cook their potato and grate it,

but I prefer doing mine raw like this.

Yeah, I always do it raw.

Combine it with a bit of egg yolk,

bit of creme fraiche if you want to, but...

I've never done that, actually.

Does that puff it up, then? Is it more like souffle?

Turns it more into a cake,

but one thing you want to do is get rid of all that starch in there,

cos all that stuff, that's just inside the potato.

This potato, it's not been washed, it's just inside there anyway.

What I want to know is do you both cook for your ladies?

-Of course.

-You do? Oh, that's nice.

To a woman's heart is through the kitchen, you know?

It is, that's true.

-Awww!

-There you go.

-OK, a little bit of butter...

-Breakfast in bed.

-..into our pan then.

-Don't know about that.

-The butter gets everywhere.

-Yes.

-Right.

OK, so in our pot there to make our sauce is just some shallots,

butter, going to put a little bit of garlic.

I'm going to grab some more of this butter.

So, what I've got in here is these tiny little pans.

These are great, these little pans. That's very hot, though.

That's a little bit too hot.

I'm going to give you a lesson how to actually cook potato

and not to burn a frying pan...

Well, I wouldn't be talking if I was you.

-We could let out the secret of earlier.

-Yeah, there we go.

So we've got some kumquats in there.

-Kumquats, right.

-And some brown sugar.

So these little pans, you can get them from cookware shops,

but you can use the little non-stick ones.

The non-stick ones are great and a little bit smaller,

cos they're just, like, perfect sized for this.

Just use it in the normal frying pan, just pile them up, really.

You can do, you can do a full cake then just cut a wedge out as well.

Now, 2008's been pretty busy for you, hasn't it, really,

opened a restaurant in America?

Yeah, we've opened the new Raglan Road.

We have one in Disney, downtown Disney

and we've just opened one in Kansas City.

-I want to go.

-In Kansas City?

Kansas City, with Dorothy, and we've just opened a new Champagne,

the superbar in Dunbrody House as well,

which is going over extremely well.

So why Kansas City, then?

Well, Kansas City, they've redeveloped downtown,

the Power and Light District,

and they've just knocked down four square blocks and

just created this new entertainment area, so it's really good.

-D'you want that in the oven?

-I think it'll be OK.

It should be all right in there, OK. What have we got in here, the veg?

OK, we just put a little bit of butter, and the veg, well,

basically all we've done is diced the veg, blanched it in hot water

for five minutes and then we've let it go cold which is great cos you can

have that in your fridge then just pull it together right at the end.

-OK, we're going to add some honey to that and some fried onions.

-Yeah.

And also, as well as the restaurants and stuff like that,

-you've been writing a book.

-Yeah, we've a new book coming out called...

-This is your second book.

-Second book.

-OK.

Called Great Family Entertaining.

It comes out next month, published by HarperCollins,

and yeah, it's really exciting, really turned out well

cos it's like, a lot of the photography

was done at home and cooking with my kids, so we had great fun doing it.

Always found it a joy, cookery with children,

-because they want to taste almost everything.

-Ah, it's fantastic.

I was looking at some of the pictures and the kids just looking up at you

and complete in awe and just love cooking,

but our kids love cooking, they love eating food, so...

And also, they learn, you see. That is fantastic,

cos when they're grown up they could, when they stay by themselves,

university, they could cook their own meal. I find them fantastic.

Sometimes they can learn how to speak English as well.

James, you can see what stuff could change.

It would help, look, you know...

-I'm just going to pour that sauce in there.

-Whoa!

-Oh, sorry.

GENNARO MAKES AMBULANCE NOISE

You can tell we've just come back, that's my eyebrows just disappeared.

The last time I was on I think we were smoking cockles, remember that?

-You OK?

-Yeah, no, you're all right.

-There's loads of fire going on.

All I can see is orange at the moment.

LAUGHTER

Right.

OK...

-Yeah, don't worry. Carry on.

-So let's plate this up.

OK, we're going to...

-..put our rosti onto our plate.

-Right.

I'm sure it looks good, I can't see it.

-It looks fantastic.

-In there, you've got...?

We've got some thyme, some honey, some butter, and then you can see

it's nicely caramelised there and what's great about the honey is it

gives you that sweetness that you're looking for to go with the venison.

Just loosen that sauce down just a touch.

Turn that down a little bit.

So in this liquor here with the kumquats you've got what?

You've got chicken stock, port wine, some red wine and some brown sugar,

shallots and garlic.

OK, now let your venison rest for about ten minutes,

so it holds in all the juices.

But you can serve it nice and rare like that?

Oh, yeah, I think the rarer the better, it's really,

with venison, because it's such a pure meat and

because it's not over hung too long, you just get that beautiful flavour.

That's good.

And then top that with the kumquat.

It's very important when you're saucing your meat you put a little

bit on top and then run it off the meat and around the plate, like so.

-The colour does look fantastic.

-It does look great, doesn't it?

Now looking at it through one eye. So remind us what that is again.

It's that eye, is it?

We've got a beautiful loin of venison, pan roasted, served on

rosti potato, roasted root vegetable with a kumquat and port wine jus.

-With seared eyelashes.

-Yes.

-Easy as that.

Right, there you go.

Can't believe, it's the first day back, there we go. Have a seat.

Dive into that. I know you're not a red meat fan, are you, really?

No, but I think, cos I've seen it all prepared

I'm just going to dive in.

And it looks good.